Children in many places around the world celebrate the beginning of spring with an Easter Egg Hunt.  Furry brown bunnies from the magical Dell Gardens lay beautiful eggs…some chocolate, some full of jelly, others full of toys!  Then, they hide the eggs in children's backyards, at parks, and at gardens for eager little hands to find.
One year, however, the Easter Egg Hunt faced terrible danger of being stopped all because of a little 4th grade bunny!  Ginny came back from school one day and rallied all the other young bunnies around her.  "We must stop laying eggs!  It's not right!" she announced.

"Why?"  some bunnies asked.  "We have been doing it for years!" others cried.  "I make the most beautiful chocolate ones!" Jez, the vainest of the bunnies, cried. "And I lay ones with the fanciest toys!" Bingo, another rabbit, declared.  And on and on all the bunnies objected to Ginny's declaration, but she wasn't phased.

"No, we are mammals, the most intelligent of all animals!  We cannot go around acting like lower, egg laying life forms!'  Ginny announced.

"What?"  "Huh?"  "What are mammals?" some of the bunnies called out, terribly confused. 

"What are mammals???" Ginny repeated, shocked!  "Why, we are mammals of course!  Mammals are animals that have backbones and are warm blooded!"

"What's warm blooded?" Bingo asked.
"Warm blooded means that no matter how cold or hot it is outside, we remain the same temperature inside our bodies!"

"Ooo!  That makes me a mammal too," Maya, a bald eagle, cried while flying circles above the rabbits.
Ginny shook her head fiercely.  "No, you're a bird.  Birds aren't mammals even though you all are warm blooded because mammals also have to make milk for their babies!"

"Well, I don't make milk," Bingo cried.
Ginny hit her head with her right, front foot in frustration.  "That's because you're a boy rabbit.  Only girl mammals with little babies make milk!"
"Ohhh!" cried the bunnies, thinking of the mommy bunnies around them.
"Also, mammals have hair," Ginny added.

"Well, then I must be a mammal because I have the most beautiful fur in the whole world!" Jez stroked her hair.
"Yeah, sure," Ginny replied, rolling her eyes.  "Mammals also have one bone for their lower jaw unlike other animals which have two or three bones.  We also have three bones in our middle ear.  Each mammal also has a diaphragm!"

"A diaphragm?  What's that?" Bingo asked.
"Don't you know anything?  A diaphragm is a muscle that divides our bodies into two sections, one for the heart and lungs, the other for the stomach!" Ginny responded.
"How do I know if I have a diaphragm?" Bingo asked.

"Well, do you ever get hiccups?" Ginny replied.  "Yeah."  "Well that's a spasm or an irritation in your diaphragm."
"Ohhh!" cried the bunnies, remembering their last bouts of hiccups. 
"But I still don't get why we have to stop laying eggs," Bingo asked.  "Yeah!" "I like laying eggs," the other bunnies chimed in.

"Because most mammals don't lay eggs.  We give birth to our young ones live!  Egg laying is only for not so smart animals like Maya!" Ginny cried.  "Hey!" Maya the Bald Eagle objected.
"Well, I'm smart.  I'm not going to lay eggs anymore," Jez cried.  "Me neither," Bingo agreed.  "No more eggs!  No more eggs!" all the bunnies chanted together. 

Ginny smiled happily, satisfied that she had destroyed the Easter Egg Hunt when suddenly, Maya swooped down, landing in the middle of the rabbits.  "Listen to yourselves!  You're not acting like smart mammals!  You sound like insects!  We live in the MAGICAL Dell Gardens, where we can defy nature!  Just because rabbits in the real world don't lay eggs, doesn't mean you can't!"  Ginny scowled at Maya, "Why should we lay eggs?"  "For two reasons.  One, the magical gardens have gifted you with the special ability to lay Easter eggs."  "And the second reason?" Ginny asked.  "Use your magical eyes, and see for yourself!"

Ginny and the other rabbits stared into space where they saw little children all over the world searching for eggs.  One little girl, maybe two years old, smiled widely, her eyes lighting up, as she found a chocolate egg!  Biting into it, she smeared chocolate all around her mouth!  Another curly haired little boy, maybe 5 or 6 years old, found an egg with a stuffed bear.  He hugged it tightly, his grin stretching ear to ear.  And likewise, all the children, equally excited, searched and found their special Easter eggs.  "They look so happy, I want to lay Easter eggs again!" Jez cried.  "Me too!" Bingo agreed.  As Ginny watched the happy kids, a special tingle of warmth ran through her body as well.  "I guess it's not so bad to lay eggs," she whispered.  All the bunnies then scurried away to get back to laying eggs. 

As Maya pecked at a worm, Ginny whispered, "Maybe what I learned in school is wrong, and birds are actually smarter than mammals."

Maya laughed.  "It's not always about being smart; sometimes it's about magic…the magic in your heart!" and with that Maya flew away.